Recent Events

Washington, D.C., Global Parliamentary Conference, April 12-13, 2015

(photo: IMF)
A two-day Global Parliamentary Conference took place during the IMF-World Bank Spring Meetings. Over 200 MPs from 81 countries attended the conference, which was organized jointly by the IMF, World Bank, and Parliamentary Network.

The program consisted of panel discussions on Financing For Development and Attaining the Sustainable Development Goals; Healthcare and Reponses to Health Crises; Gender Equality; Unemployment & Inequality; Environmental Sustainability; and Transparent & Accountable Institutions. Both the IMF and World Bank were represented at senior levels on all the panels, with MPs moderating the various panels. IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde held a town hall event with the MPs, jointly with World Bank President Jim Kim. Many of the topics drew questions from MPs that focused on how they, as parliamentarians, could take actions at the national level to help address these issues.

Rwanda, Seminar on Extractive Industries: The Role of the Legislature, January 12-15, 2015

The IMF, jointly with the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, World Bank, United Nations Development Programme, and the Natural Resource Governance Institute held an inter-country seminar in Rwanda from January 12-15, 2015 to familiarize legislators with the IMF’s work and provide a forum to exchange views on transparency and accountability in extractive industries in Africa. Twenty members of parliament from Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Ghana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Niger, Kenya, Zambia, Seychelles, Cameroon, and Western Australia attended the event.

Kuwait, Seminar in the Middle East and North Africa for parliamentarians, Dec. 2-4, 2014

(photo: IMF), Dec. 2-4, 2014.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) reached out to parliamentarians from the Middle East and North African (MENA) countries, sponsoring a seminar to foster greater understanding of the global and regional roles of the two institutions and exchange views on the economic issues facing the region. The seminar was held during December 2-4 at the IMF Middle East Center for Economics and Finance (CEF) in Kuwait City. Twenty-six members of parliament from many Mashreq and Maghreb countries—Algeria, Jordan, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Sudan, West Bank and Gaza, and Yemen—attended the event.

Bangladesh, Parliamentarian Seminar, November 18-20, 2014

Organized and financed by the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA), the seminar brought together parliamentarians from five South and South East Asian parliaments. The Speaker of the Bangladesh Parliament, who also serves as Secretary General of the CPA, hosted the seminar. The event provided participants with an overview of the IMF’s activities and areas of focus in South and South East Asia, and discussed perspectives of senior parliamentarians and administrators on challenges in their respective countries and views on the role of the IMF. Twenty parliamentarians and high-level parliamentary administrators from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and Bangladesh participated.

Jordan, Seminar in the Middle East and North Africa for parliamentarians, Sept. 11-12, 2014
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) held its first country specific seminar in the Middle East and North Africa for parliamentarians in Jordan from September 11-12, 2014 to familiarize the participants with the IMF’s work and provide a forum to exchange views on economic developments in Jordan. The participants included Speaker of Jordan’s Lower House of Parliament, Atef Tarawneh, who delivered the opening remarks and members of parliament’s finance and economic committees.

Lower House Speaker Atef Tarawneh kick-starts the IMF first MENA country specific parliamentarian seminar in Jordan, September 11, 2014.

Pakistan, Parliamentarians Key to Economic Reform Program
On May 12, 2014, Jeffrey Franks, IMF Pakistan Mission Chief, met with a group of 16 MPs in Islamabad during the third review of the EFF program. The objective of the meeting was to inform MPs of the recent discussions between the authorities and the IMF in the context of the economic reform program, but also to hear their views about the most important economic challenges facing the nation, including on the issue of tax administration and collection reforms.

Mozambique Parliamentary Event Members from the Parliamentary Budgetary and Planning Committee from Mozambique attended a one-day seminar with the IMF on April 25, 2014. This seminar was part of the outreach ahead of the Africa Rising Conference. Sessions covered included the Global Economic Outlook and regional prospects as well as an extensive discussion on the role of MPs in resource-rich countries such as Mozambique.

Discussions with Gulf ParliamentariansThe IMF provided a forum for parliamentarians from member countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)—Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates—to exchange views on the Fund’s role and the economic issues facing the region. Held during April 28-29 at the IMF Middle East Center for Economics and Finance (CEF) in Kuwait City, the two-day seminar aimed to foster greater understanding of the IMF’s role and familiarize participants with the macroeconomic analysis and policy tools underpinning its core policy consultations and programs, says IMF. Read full story

Eastern European MPs at JVIIn February, the IMF held a two-day seminar for a group of 12 MPs from Eastern European countries at the Joint Vienna Institute. The aim of the seminar was to increase mutual understanding of selected economic issues by country parliaments and to examine actual country cases of recent IMF engagements in the region. MPs from Kosovo, Moldova, Slovenia, Bosnia and others attended the seminar, which included a presentation of the IMF’s book on Jobs and Growth in Europe.

MPs attending seminar at JVI, February 2014 credit: JVI

Joint Vienna Institute, Resource Management Workshop for MPs In order for natural resources to be used effectively and to contribute positively to development, greater participation, transparency, and accountability across the EI value chain needs to be promoted. These governance objectives can only be achieved with the support of a wide range of stakeholders such as governments, multinational corporations, the media, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and, importantly, Parliaments. In 2012 and 2013, in partnership with the World Bank Institute, the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and Revenue Watch, the IMF participated in a seminar on the management of natural resources for African MPs at the JVI.

Resources

Parliamentary Network on the World Bank and the IMF (PN)The Fund and the World Bank support the Parliamentary Network, whose mission is to provide a platform for parliamentarians around the globe to advocate for increased accountability and transparency in international financial institutions and multilateral development financing.

Through the PN, the IMF has held specialized conferences, such as one in Rwanda in 2012 on private sector development, and Field Visits to various countries, like to Sri Lanka in 2012, Tanzania in May 2014, and Peru in March 2015. The IMF also holds workshops for MPs during the Spring and Annual Meetings to provide an overview of the main economic challenges as well as of latest research on topics that the Fund is developing.